The Department of Ethnic Studies UC Berkeley

Facebook Event Page

Featuring:

Maria De La Rosa

Director of the NEA Series “Timeless Archetypes of Women in Music and Dance”

and Artistic Director of Las Peteneras

Liliana Herrera

Artistic Director of Golondrina: Andanzas por California

Shefali Shah

Artistic Director of Yo Cantaré: Women’s Voices in Puerto Rican Music and Art

Gabriela Shiroma

Artistic Director of Mujeres del Perú

Moderated by

Dr. Marina Romani, UC Berkeley

This event is generously sponsored by La Peña Cultural Center, the National Endowment for the Arts Artworks, and by UC Berkeley’s Department of Anthropology, Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of Music, Center for Latin American Studies.

Description

Since June 2018, Berkeley’s renowned La Peña Cultural Center has presented the year-long series “Timeless Archetypes of Women in Music and Dance,” generously funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The series has engaged more than 30 artists to conduct community workshops, alongside several live performances, calling attention to the crucial and often difficult roles that women have played across societies and cultures. The series has featured artists active in the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, and contemporary Latino artistic traditions, and it has invited them to consider critically how women’s roles, reflected in timeless archetypes of femininity, have evolved and are still manifested in today’s society.

In this panel, hosted by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley, we will have a timely discussion that reflects both on the NEA series, as well as the future of feminine archetypes. We will hear from the series’ artistic directors: Maria De La Rosa (Series Director and Artistic Director of Las Peteneras), Liliana Herrera (Golondrina: Andanzas por California), Shefali Shah (Yo Cantaré: Women’s Voices in Puerto Rican Music and Art), and Gabriela Shiroma (Mujeres del Perú). The panel is moderated by Marina Romani (performer and composer, Yo Cantaré).

One of the main goals of this panel, and of the whole series, is to honor the historic presence of women’s leadership in the promotion of cultural folk traditions from Latin America, the Caribbean, and California.

“Timeless Archetypes of Women in Music and Dance” is sponsored by NEA Artworks program, Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) Investing in Artists grant program, Dancer’s Group CA$H grant program, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) Fund for Artists, and National Performance Network Artist Engagement Fund (NPN AEF).

Panel organizers: Marina Romani (Berkeley International Study Program and Department of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley) and Gabriel Sanchez (Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley). Poster graphic design by Aditi Raghunath (Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley)

With questions, please contact marinaromani@berkeley.edu

Forthcoming NEA Series events

June 21: Las Peteneras: Fandango at La Peña Cultural Center (Berkeley)

June 29: Las Peteneras: Concert at Brava Theater (San Francisco)

June 30: Las Peteneras: Music and Dance Workshop at La Peña Cultural Center (Berkeley)

In 2018-19, La Peña Cultural Center will complete 44 years of promoting arts and social justice. By highlighting the cultural diversity and richness that women bring to our communities through the performing arts, this collaboration will propel La Peña’s mission as purveyors of cultural and artistic equity.

BIOS

Maria De La Rosa, native of San José, California, is an award-winning artist, musician, singer, educator, and curator of folkloric music programming, as well as Artistic Director of the son jarocho ensemble DíaPa’Son. De La Rosa has studied for 30 years with masters of Mexican dance and music; taught traditional arts for 25+ years; performed throughout California and in Hawaii and Mexico, primarily as a dancer with Los Lupeños de San José, and was the company’s Artistic Director for three years. In 2013, she choreographed MACARIO, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)-funded theater production of the book and movie of the same name. Since 2006, she has curated and performed in several son jarocho projects at La Peña Cultural Center. She is the recent recipient of an NEA Artworks grant, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) Fund for the Arts award and Center for Cultural Innovation Investing in Artists grant award.  With the 2014 “PAZ: Fandango Urbano” project, Maria launched year-round son jarocho programming at La Peña, including classes and monthly fandangos. De La Rosa’s music ensemble, DíaPa’Son, regularly appears throughout the Bay Area and beyond performing at such venues as the Oakland Museum of California, La Peña Cultural Center, Mexican Heritage Plaza, DeYoung Museum, San Francisco Arts Commission, among many others. De La Rosa earned her BA and MA from Stanford University, and holds a Professional Clear California Teaching Credential. De La Rosa is the Series Director of “Timeless Archetypes of Women in Music and Dance” and Artistic Director of Las Peteneras. This series is generously sponsored by NEA Artworks program, Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) Investing in Artists grant program, Dancer’s Group CA$H grant program, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) Fund for Artists, and National Performance Network Artist Engagement Fund (NPN AEF).

Liliana Herrera is a singer-songwriter, recording artist and cultural worker based in the Bay Area. Over the last twenty years, she has connected her experiences working with a vast array of communities to musical and theatrical collaborations, such as El Teatro Campesino, Golden Gate Opera, Opera Cultura, Galería de la Raza, The De Young Museum, SOMArts, Mission Cultural Center, Brava for Women in the Arts, La Peña Cultural Center, among others. Hailing from a Southern California musical border family, she bridges her bicultural roots to the arts and social justice through music, as a language justice interpreter and linguist, and Voice Over artist, lending her voice to numerous projects for TV, radio and more. Liliana is currently lead singer of Oakland-based Cumbia dub band, Candelaria, and recently released her Chicana Soul debut EP, Late Night Taco Stand Music.

Shefali Shah is a dance instructor, choreographer, performing artist, and environmental justice educator. She is the co-director of the Bomba y Plena Workshop at La Peña Cultural Center and the artistic director of performance ensemble Aguacero. She is also principal dancer with La Mixta Criolla. She teaches weekly adult and youth Bomba dance classes and workshops, and regularly presents at schools, universities, festivals, and events throughout California. For over 20 years Shefali has dedicated herself to the study, practice, and education of Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance. She trained extensively and performed with members of the legendary Cepeda Family at “Maestros de Bomba en la Bahía” (2005 and 2007), an event that she co-founded and co-produced, featuring master drummers and dancers from Puerto Rico. She has performed at the San Francisco Ethnic Festival Dance, at CubaCaribe, at the BomPlenazo in New York, and was featured at the West Wave Dance Festival. In July 2011, she co-produced “Maestros de Plena y Bomba en la Bahia,” featuring Los Pleneros de la 21 and Alma Moyo. Most recently, Shefali, was one of four leaders of the 9th annual “Encuentro de Tambores” in Cataño, Puerto Rico, representing and dancing and singing with the Diaspora Delegation.

Gabriela Shiroma is a pioneer of Afro-Peruvian dance movement in the Bay Area. She is a choreographer, producer, dancer, teacher and cultural activist who has been teaching and producing Afro -Peruvian dance and musical events in the Bay Area for over 30 years. Gabriela has done field trips and dance research in Ghana, Togo, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Japan, Puerto Rico and Peru. She has taught and coordinated workshops in afro Peruvian music and dance at universities and cultural centers internationally.